She explained that this was something they've been considering for a while since the neighborhood is changing and more students have been moving in. "The hotel wants a sports bar and I don't want to do a sports bar," she said with a laugh. "They don't want a three-star restaurant anymore. I don't want to get into that game with them." Kim-Drohomyrecky said they love Custom House and that the concept may re-emerge in the future. "We may tuck this one away and see if there's an opportunity to do it someplace else. I think our new places are phenomenal and we're going to focus on those. We'll see what happens in a year or so."

So the neighborhood is changing? Ok, but it seems like there is still a place for a restaurant like Custom House (especially given it's proximity to the Loop). Seems like an excuse if you ask us.

We imagine that something will replace Custom House in relatively short order.

We've had some solid meals at Custom House, but in reality we aren't going to miss it much. Every time we've been service has been very spotty and inconsistent.

Anyway, the bigger question we have is what do you think about the assertion that the neighborhood is changing? And that the hotel wants a sports bar? Is that what the Sloop wants? More sports bars (didn't Gino's East just open across the street with the sports bar concept)?

39 comments:

Anonymous
said...

More sports bars will do great in the south loop. Even if we could bing in a club or ultra lounge that would be amazing. I hate having to leave the area to go to other bars and clubs. Sports bars with good food along with lounges and clubs have out other nighborhoods on the map and make them places that we all from the south loop travel to. This would bring in so many more people from other parts of the city and even the burbs.

Face it--- its a sports town, and the South Loop has a growing number of kids who want pizza/chicken tenders with their buckets of Coors while they watch the game. I see no problem as it is something everyone can enjoy.

Blake Hotel is shady though--- I read this past summer they are known to be one of the more "friendlier" hotels when it comes to housing alot of prositutes and the such. Custom House sucked

Maybe you are just blind to good service but I am not. Custom House was indeed troubled by poor service and poor food quality. The reason they have moved on is likely to be these reasons and these reasons only. Plus that location is awful...put in a KFC and call it a day

I must have eaten there over twenty times: never had anything but excellent service, the food was consistently top-notch. BetterThanYou, perhaps the servers smelled the KFC on your breath, and they were the ones who decided to call it a day?? :-)

We had some tough service in there last Friday. The waiter was a real jerk when we asked him about the $5 Burger special. He replied they have no specials and it is called a promotion and meant for regular customers. Hey douche, I'm a regular customer so please get me my burger. Anyway, I liked having the restaurant despite that waiter. A place more moderately priced will do much better in the space, though.

Aw, I really liked Custom House. I thought it was a solid meal for a reasonable price. There are already a good amount of sports bars in the sloop, not sure another one is needed...oh well, you will be missed Custom House.

My parents stayed at the Blake when they came to visit. We went in Custom House for drinks and the hostess was a total bitch and completely condescending... to guests of the hotel! I couldn't believe it, and I was embarrassed that my family would get such a bad taste of a neighborhood I was proud to be living in.

Another sports bar, though? Please. We need something like SmallBar or Beer Bistro. There's no craft beer in the area now that Villains is gone (except for Hackney's, which I admit usually has a decent tap list), and higher-end craft beer bars tend to have decent food for a good price. If a Beer Bistro South came in, I wouldn't need to go all the way up to Fullerton for a good variety of decent drinks.

ugh this has to be the dumbest thread yet on sloopin. Nobody ever talked about this place before but now all of a sudden all these dopes want to come out and call it "the best place ever, no more sports bars waawaawaaaa". maybe if you patronized your beloved Custom House more it wouldnt have to shut down. ( if you believe its because Blake wants to turn it into a sports bar youre as gullible as you seem)

I liked this place a lot. It wasn't as good as it had been since the chef changed, but it was different and interesting. I have to note, again, that since we restarted allowing anonymous posts the idiotic and racist postings have gone way up. I don't have much interest in continuing to be one of 5-10 posters that actually contribute to a dialog.

Sooooo GLAD to see this place go. I gave it 3 shots over the past 5 years and always left wondering why I wasted my time. On one occasion we brought 8 people from the office for lunch...it took an hour and a half to get soup and salads and another hour to get main courses. At the 3 hour mark my boss was livid as they still wouldn't provide the check but kept pushing us to order dessert. Btw, the restaurant was empty and the food sucked! No loss in this one closing.

I have stated in the past that the best way to turn this neighborhood blog into the comments section at Tribune.com is to allow anon postings. I know of 6 people now that avoid this site because of the filth and idiocy that is spewed on this pages from braindead bums like the ones on this blog entry.

For what its worth, I enjoyed Custom House. My daughters friend was the hostess and said there were quite a few regulars and the food was top notch.

This is indeed a loss for the neighborhood. The place was nothing special but solid. The owners explanation seems suspect, there is more to the story. Josh I agree, the anonymous comments are getting ridiculous again.

Whether you liked the food, service, atmosphere, etc or not, the fact that one of the very few "destination dining" restaurants in the sloop is gone ain't good for sloop. And the owner is on record indicating that they want to reopen elsewhere (ie, another neighborhood). Not good for the already tarnished reputation of sloop.

The Anonymous post are great for this site. I now come look on this blog multiple times a day to read what people are saying. Before when they were taken away no one was talking and it got very boring. Yes some post are just not intelligent but it does allow for the creation of more activity on the blog. Which is great for the site! Thanks again Sloopin for bring it back.

Back to the topic I am sure this place had its regulars but the owners are not willing to adapt the the changing clientel in the south loop so the hotel is getting them out and going to have a new concept. Times change and you have to make the right business decision and that is what is going on.

Not going to miss Custom House...I think it'd be nice to have a loungy, coffee shop-like place in the area. A good "work-from-home" environment, nice for all the students, and a place for some live music in the neighborhood... Does any one else miss the old Guarmond's (sp)?

Never been to Custom House so I don't know what the interior/vibe was but would they benefit from looking at the spot that Alains occupied on Michigan? I'd love to have another true restaurant option there!